THERE is too much gravel clogging the River Eden according to Appleby residents who attended a public meeting this week.

It had been organised by the Environment Agency and Cumbria County Council to gather people’s views about the findings of a draft report into floods which hit the town in December.

Gravel was one of a number of concerns which were raised. These included problems caused by a sewage culvert in Doomgate and the location of a flood warning siren which was not heard by many residents.

Around 70 people packed into Appleby public hall, in Boroughgate, on Wednesday, and formany it was the first chance they had to read the draft flood incident investigation report which had been prepared by Cumbria County Council and the Environment Agency.

The draft report set out a number of recommendations including improving the Doomgate drainage system; reviewing flood defence performance; investigating upstream flood defences; and providing a flood defence scheme at The Sands.

Catherine Evans, of the Environment Agency, who was also the partnership and strategic overview team leader for the flood investigation, told the audience that nothing had yet been finalised and it was important for residents to give their views about what had happened.

She said December had seen an unprecedented amount of rainfall, in what was a prolonged event, and added: “River levels remained high for a number of days. In Doomgate too much water contributed to flooding. Water had nowhere to go and came out through manholes.”

Ms Evans said existing flood protection measures were “overtopped” but added: “The defences are designed for a certainamount of water and in this case it was massively exceeded. We did see some overtopping into the undefended part of the town.”

Residents heard that the agency would be looking at a variety of potential resilience measures, including improved flood defences for the town and better upstream management — which aimed to slow down the flow of water and allow defences a better chance of coping.

Ms Evans said any case which was eventually put forward for funding would have to have a “much stronger evidence base” and it was important that the sequence of events in December was correctly modelled.

She said it was important that the warning siren was in the best possible location because it would form part of the flood defence for the town.

However, there was disagreement from residents when they were told that gravel levels in the River Eden were lower than that which would trigger its removal and one audience member said: “We’ve never seen as much gravel on that side of the bridge — it’s a dam.”

Another added that excess gravel needed to be removed to allow water to flow freely under Bridge Street, and Ms Evans said: “Where it makes a difference we will remove it.”

Adam Stephenson, a civil engineer with the Environment Agency, said, when compared with a previous survey in 2014, the river bed on one side was around 1m lower and on the other side it had not changed at all.

He added that an old gas pipe which had previously acted as a weir had been bent upwards so water now flowed easier there. “The channel has lowered itself naturally,” he said.

Peter Metcalfe, a trustee at Appleby Bowling Club, was concerned that any barrier built at The Sands to prevent flooding there, could channel additional floodwater to the bowls club. “That means that my bowling club is going to get hit harder,” he said.

“I am sure you are quite aware where the flooding starts. I am sure there should be some consideration for the club because it is a wonderful community asset.”

Ms Evans said: “There is no decision being made, nothing is proposed and certainly nothing is being proposed to make it worse for you.”

Residents were told that any improvements to Appleby’s flood defences would not be implemented for a number of years and if they had been affected they were encouraged to apply to grants of up to £5,000 from Eden Council to make their property more resilient in the short term.

Ms Evans added: “We are working as hard as we can, we can’t look at schemes until we understand what happened, it’s as simple as that.

“We can’t build a scheme based on half the story — it might make things worse. We are here now and we will continue to keep you up to date.”

It was also suggested that the warning siren should be returned to Garstead Road, where it was located before it was transferred to the fire station, so more people would hear it.

Residents were urged to submit their views for inclusion in the final report and it is expected that a final version of the report, as well as a start on flood risk management options, will be published during the autumn.

From The Cumberland & Westmorland Herald on Saturday, July 30, 2016.